Customer Reviews

The Demon

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I will never look at vice presidents or huge corporations the same way again. This book portrays the dark side of big money makers. Some of this book is hard to swallow, but that is what makes Hubert Selby's books so damn good! If you have a weak stomach or strong morals, this book is not for you.

captures addiction, human nature, denial, struggle and hell perfectly.

I am fairly well-read, and this is about my favorite book ever.

I'm not sure why I wasn't too fond of it. I guess I found Harry, the main character, to be kind of hokey. I can picture him saying, "Hi, I'm Harry. I'm successful, women like me, and I can play a hell of a game of baseball." And then he winks. That's just what I think of when I think of this book.

I guess this book just kind of bored me. I didn't really feel sorry for him. I wasn't particularly fond of the guy. Harry didn't make me angry, either. Harry White stirred up no emotions in me whatsoever. I just remember I wanted him to kill himself. I thought Linda, his wife, was a really nice lady. I did feel sorry for her. I didn't really LIKE her all that much, but at least she made me feel sympathy.

I guess I just found his little obsessions to be way too predictable. I knew that one night he would sleep with a woman, and then the next night, HE WOULD DO IT AGAIN! I mean, that's not so bad. It's just that I felt like I was reading this: Harry went out one night and slept with some broad. Harry went to work and felt extreme agitation. That night he slept with another woman. The next day at work was no better. He felt extreme agitation..." and so on. I guess I must have a touch of ADD.

But I did like a couple things in this book. I thought it was funny when he started sleeping with REALLY dirty women. And his thoughts about STD's were pretty amusing. I thought they were, anyway. Also, when he did that thing to the hobo... yeah. I don't want to give away anything. Hobos are always fun. That gave it three stars. Plus, I didn't NOT like it. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't great.

So, Selby, this is book two I have read by you. It will not be my last! I am too stupid for my own good.

I read this book after reading 'Requiem for a Dream' and I couldn't put it down (I know that's cliche). The words crawl underneath your skin and stay there while you feel shivering up your spine. This book is one of my favorites, it's so powerful yet realistic. Get it!

Another near-perfect novel by Selby.

This is my first Selby book and now I am going to read all of them...this guy knows how to develop that inner chain of impulses that devours your will just if you keep feeding them or fighting them. He shows us how easy it is to loose control and the perspective of life just by letting your desires go free, first as a leisure then as a part of your life. Finally you get bored and then need something more intense. If you are a human being living in this crazy world, then you'll know how easy it is to let go a desire by its own and then ending up as its slave. First it serves you then you have to serve him. Just like a pact that you make with a demon or with 'Satan'. You fight your inner demons or you end up as their slave, that is how is life and Hubert Selby exposes it so clearly that it will make any writer get frustrated because this guy really knows how to write and how to look at humanitie's heart. (please excuse any mis-spellings. I am not a frequent English speaker or writer) Thanx

Nevermind the 3 stars I've given this book. My review is conditional. First off let me say I'm completely confused by the effect this book was supposed to produce. Let me explain, this book best compares to American Psycho. There are a lot of similarities between the two main characters i.e young, successful, well educated etc etc. However, in American Psycho I was shocked and sometimes disgusted by what Patrick Bateman (the protagonist of Amercan Psycho) would do to his victims... I KNEW Patrick was disturbed. In The Demon, I wasn't so sure. To be completely honest, torwards the end of the book I was hoping he WOULD do certain things which are... less than moral. Now my confusion stems from whether or not Hubert Selby Jr. intended for his readers to feel this way, to feel disgusted w/ perfection and idealism, to feel like rolling in the mud. Like I said, I'm not sure. If this was the authors intention, 5 stars! If not...

Thats what i said as i closed the book, i will never touch again. This was the most disturbing book ive ever read, it gave me a bad "feeling" after i set it down, it probably sounds like a clique but this book got under my skin and made me think. i believe any person could at some level relate to Harry. The way we lie to ourself and say we will do something or finish it but we end up blowing it off. A brutally honest book and the way Selby describes Harrys emotion is what truly disturbs us. Ive read over 30 books over the past year and by far this one is the best, the best book i have ever read period.Nothing will ever truly make you feel like The Demon.

Harry had it all, and couldn't stand it. It makes you want to forget about living the good life and extremely content with the one you have. How can a man who has it all fall so low? Harry is a greatly developed character, and Hubert Selby Jr. is a literary mastermind. I have read almost all of his books, and I think I like this one the most. You actually see the demons that ride inside some peoples heads, through Harry. You wonder why America is so warped and all you see on television is voilence and chaos. Well Hubert Selby gets you one step closer to seeing why this is. Not a book for the faint of heart or the couple in a rough relationship, but I highly recommend this book.

I really liked Last Exit to Brooklyn as well as Requiem for a Dream. This book, however, seemed to drag on and on...the sex scenes were uninspired, the countless number of sexual partners that Harry had were not believable. Even the climax of the book had me yawning. And then the very predictable "dramatic" ending...YAWN.....Actually the entire premise of the book...that Harry needs increasing amounts of sensation in order to get his fix seemed contrived.